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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29640498">Half-Life: Resonance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kendallmorrow9/pseuds/kendallmorrow9'>kendallmorrow9</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNeonFennec/pseuds/TheNeonFennec'>TheNeonFennec</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Half-Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Disasters, Found Family, Gen, Resonance Cascade, john freeman as a serious character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:14:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29640498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kendallmorrow9/pseuds/kendallmorrow9, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNeonFennec/pseuds/TheNeonFennec</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A scientist, a student, and a brother. We know what happened to Gordon Freeman on the day of the resonance cascade, but what about those in the background? Scientists, left to try and escape. Citizens plagued by portal storms. And what about our hero's family?</p><p>This is a story about the voices we don't hear from. The ones who aren't heroes. The ones just trying to survive.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Tremors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> "John, turn on the news."</em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Are they cancelling classes?" </em>
</p><p>"Shit, get down!"</p><p>The rumbling had barely registered within Cynthia's mind before her co-worker’s voice pierced the haze. She acted instinctively—all those Black Mesa hazard course runs had done her well—and slid under a lab bench, holding her hands over her head to brace it. She assumed it was an earthquake. The way the beakers and flasks trembled, jittering themselves to a smashing end on the tile floors, paired with the nauseating swinging of the fluorescent lights, supported her theory. As the shaking beneath her eased, she glanced over to where Dr. Jenks had positioned herself across the laboratory. She was leaning against the counter, black hair hanging loose in front of wide, tearful eyes. For a moment, they thought it was over. Cynthia could hear her breath, her heart beating in her chest. Then, the flashes started. Bright arcs of blinding green light filled the air with an electric buzz. Cynthia watched one of those flashes in awe. This was no earthquake. It was something entirely different. As a strange form, pale and small, tumbled out of the light, Cynthia could only conjure one thought to the forefront of her mind.</p><p>Resonance cascade.</p><p>And at that moment, Doctor Cynthia Thorn knew she was going to die.</p><p>Things went dark for a while.</p><p>When Doctor Cynthia Thorn awoke, the first things that came to her mind were questions. Why was she on the floor? What was that siren noise? Why did her head hurt? The answer came back to her in pieces, bits of the day she had just gone through, now laced with fear and confusion. It had been a normal day. A normal morning. She had made plans for the evening and everything. And now, she lay on the cold tiles of her lab within Black Mesa, eyes adjusting to the flickering overhead lights and coughing up dust. What a day. But, she wasn’t dead yet. Likely concussed and totally in the dark as to what happened, but definitely not dead yet.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Cynthia attempted to pull herself to her feet, crawl out from the corner of the lab she had hidden in. Something heavy had fallen across her left thigh, she noticed when her first try at movement was met with a scraping, pressing pain. She shoved the rubble aside (it appeared to be a very small chunk of the ceiling, and she was very grateful that it wasn’t what had knocked her unconscious before) and used the lab counter to bring herself to stand. Once up, she took in the damage.</p><p>The lab she worked in was an old one. It was no surprise the ceiling had come to bits in places. Vague memories of asking the higher-ups for funding to renovate came to mind. She remembered more vividly a conversation she had with Dr. Jenks just last week about how it would never go through… It seemed that her brain would rather focus on anything but what was right in front of her, what had just happened. </p><p>That was, until she remembered she wasn’t alone.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“Dr. Jenks?” she called, her voice scratchy from the dusty air. Where was her lab partner? She stepped over what was left of some equipment, their entire rocket fuel testing setup now an unrecognizable mess on the floor. Jenks had been just across the room, hadn’t she? The lights on this side of the lab weren’t even flickering, they had gone completely out…</p><p>Movement. There was a rustle in the dark, the sound of shifting against the mess that was once almost a second home to Cynthia. Her eyes darted to the source of the noise, a grin of relief forming as she spotted a familiar lab coat. She started forward.</p><p>“Agatha, my god, are you okay? I thought you might’ve…”</p><p>Her eyes were still adjusting. As the figure came closer, into the light, she should have seen Agatha Jenks’ face. But, to her dismay, she didn’t. Cynthia stumbled backwards, hand flying to cover her mouth and eyes wide. The only thing louder than her heartbeat in her ears was the unnatural, guttural moan of Dr. Jenks. No, no… What was <em> once </em> Dr. Jenks. This thing standing in front of her now, with its elongated fingers and torn open abdomen, it shouldn’t even be <em> alive </em>! And its face, or lack thereof. Something was clinging to her friend’s head, something familiar yet totally alien. Was it that thing she had seen moments before blacking out? Some sort of pale, many-legged creature? It didn’t have many features, no discernible eyes or anything. Whatever it was, it completely obscured the face of Dr. Jenks. </p><p>Cynthia had a moment where she pleaded with herself, <em> please </em>don’t let it be Jenks. Please let this thing be someone else. Or, better yet, let it all be a bad dream. It was all bizarre enough to be one after all. But, no. Just enough of Agatha’s dark hair, now stringy with blood, was hanging out to be seen. Cynthia swallowed the lump in her throat.</p><p>“Agatha… Are you— Is that you in there?” She reached out a hand gingerly, hoping the best despite the gory display. </p><p>It lunged at her, horrible wail piercing through the tense air as it attempted to catch her with its talons. Like a rubber band, wound up since the first tremor, Cynthia snapped. She spun around, ready to make a mad dash for the door to the lab. Just as she was about a meter away from what she assumed was relative safety, the door burst open. A security guard, disheveled, but with his gun at the ready, barreled in. Before she could even react to his arrival, he spotted the remains of Dr. Jenks behind her and took action. The security guard sidestepped Cynthia and unloaded seven shots into the creature’s head without a second thought. It crumpled in on itself, succumbing to the attack and falling, mercifully, dead. </p><p>The sound of gunfire was still ringing off the walls of the enclosed lab when Cynthia turned to look at her supposed savior. He looked a good twenty years younger than her and completely consumed by panic. His wide, fearful eyes turned to her next, looking her up and down before lowering his gun.</p><p>For some reason, she could only think of one thing to say at first. “You just killed Dr. Jenks.”</p><p>He looked confused for a moment before he followed her gaze to the corpse on the floor. “Oh,” so he said, voice cracking. “So, they <em> are </em> the staff.”</p><p>“There’s more?” It felt as if a deep pit opened in her stomach. Of course this crisis extended beyond the confines of her lab.</p><p>“Black Mesa’s crawling with ‘em all of a sudden, I hear. I just— I was in the break room a few hallways down when I heard this <em> noise </em>and—”</p><p>“So it isn’t just this sector? Not just the rocket labs, or the high altitude launch center?” </p><p>He nodded. “Uh, I’ve gotten a radio transmission from far over on the other side, Doc, and they’re dealing with this too.”</p><p>She pressed her hands to her temples, sliding them back to run through her now loose grey-streaked locks. “Of course,” she muttered, mostly to herself, “If it’s a resonance cascade, which it <em> must be </em> , it would come from Sector C which is <em> miles </em>from here, and…”</p><p>“Doc?” the security guard broke her mumblings. He glanced over his shoulder at the doorway, as if expecting another thing to pounce on them at any second. “Do you know something about what the hell is going on? Anything?”</p><p>“I have <em> theories, </em>just from something a friend from the Anomalous Materials Laboratories said about them getting some odd orders regarding the use of their anti-mass spectrometer. I don’t know much about it— Kleiner’s the one doing this work, not me— but I think what just happened has something to do with their—”</p><p>The guard stuck a hand out, interrupting her mid-sentence. He pointed, silently, to a vent near the ceiling on a wall a few feet away. There was an odd clanking sound from within.</p><p>“We need to go,” he said.</p><p>“Where to?” The high anxious energy of the man was beginning to rub off on her, just a bit.</p><p>“Out. We need to get out.” He took a steadying breath, trying to hide his fear. “I’ll protect you, Doc. Just… Just follow me.”</p><p>The light in the back stopped flickering, finally dying out.</p><p>“You lead the way,” said Cynthia.</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“Hey, Julia! Did you feel that earthquake a couple minutes ago?”</p><p>With more force than necessary, Julia shut the book she had been reading to gaze up at her friend. She leaned forward, adjusting her glasses with dramatic flair.</p><p>“Ooh! I didn’t, actually.”</p><p>Her friend, a shorter girl sporting a sweatshirt for her swim team, chuckled. “Okay, it wasn’t that big, I wouldn’t have to tell you about it if it was. I think I only felt it ‘cause I was sitting on the floor in the hallway before the bell rang.”</p><p>“Still,” insisted Julia, “an earthquake’s an earthquake, Sydney! I wonder where the epicenter was? Hold on, I’ve got a book on fault lines…”</p><p>“It might have just been someone roughhousing in the classroom behind me, though.” Sydney shook her head as Julia dove into her backpack. The classroom around them paid no heed to Julia’s enthusiastic mumblings on fault lines and seismology. Each student was deeply into their own conversation, some nursing cups of coffee or energy drinks as they waited for second period to start. The teacher was fiddling with a radio at the counter by the windows, switching it to a local station and setting the volume low. Music was one of the few pleasures permitted to them at the beginning of calc class. </p><p>Unfortunately, the song was cut off just a few seconds after the teacher stepped away. The subtle chaos of the class was suddenly quieted by the screeching tones of the emergency broadcast system. Julia re-emerged from her backpack with a start, eyes wide with interest as she listened for what would follow.</p><p>
  <em> THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES. AT 8:58 AM MOUNTAIN TIME, A DISASTER OF UNKNOWN TYPE HAS OCCURED AT THE BLACK MESA RESEARCH FACILITY CAUSING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND FAILURE TO VARIOUS POWER AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS IN THE SURROUNDING AREAS. </em>
</p><p>“Unknown type?” whispered Julia, trying to parse what the harsh electronic voice could possibly be warning them about.</p><p>
  <em> AN IMMEDIATE EVACUATION ORDER HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR ALL RESIDENTS WITHIN A 75 MILE RADIUS OF THE FACILITY. AN ON SITE MILITARY HAS BEEN DISPATCHED TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE. MAKE SURE TO BRING AN EMERGENCY SUPPLY OF FOOD, WATER… </em>
</p><p>The entire classroom was clamouring now, eyes wide with fear. The small town of Cisco, New Mexico was well within those 75 miles. It was the closest town to that research facility period, if Julia remembered correctly, which she did. The teacher was currently gesturing to the class with her finger to her lips, trying to keep focus on the radio’s message.</p><p>
  <em> ...AND BATTERY POWERED RADIOS. FOLLOW LOCAL EVACUATION ROUTES WHICH HAVE BEEN MARKED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND ONLY USE ONE VEHICLE. DO NOT RETURN TO THE WARNING AREA UNTIL THE ALL CLEAR HAS BEEN GIVEN. IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE EVACUATION ZONE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE. IF YOU ARE WITHIN THE EVACUATION AREA AND HAVE NO TRANSPORTATION, LOCATE YOUR NEAREST POLICE DEPARTMENT OR MILITARY OFFICER. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR CELL PHONES UNLESS IN THE CASE OF EMERGENCIES. STAY TUNED TO LOCAL NEWS MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND INFORMATION ON THIS SITUATION. </em>
</p><p>The broadcast ended with the same harsh tones as before, leaving the classroom in a stunned silence. All eyes turned to the teacher, who looked just as frightened as the rest of them. After a moment, she straightened herself up, dusted off her skirt, and cleared her throat. </p><p>“Everyone stay calm, I’ll call the office. I’m… I’m fairly certain they’ll have been notified, but I just want to make sure. Please keep the volume down.”</p><p>As the teacher stepped away to do just that, Julia looked back up at her friend. Sydney’s face had gone pale, fists balled on Julia’s desk. “Oh my god,” she said softly, “What if that was what I felt? The— that’s…” </p><p>Julia looked down at the book now in her hands. The maps and historical records within now seemed incredibly unhelpful. In fact, now that disaster was lurking around the corner, she was struggling to come up with something that <em> would </em>be helpful. They had no way of knowing what the disaster was, how could a high school freshman know what went wrong at a secretive laboratory? She tapped her fingers on the table, brainstorming. A reactor meltdown, maybe? Perhaps something big exploded? It could be a similar event to what happened just two years ago in New York, or maybe… Despite the tense atmosphere of the classroom, she suddenly found herself holding back laughter. Sydney looked at her in confusion.</p><p>“What if it’s zombies?” she snickered. Sydney’s face crinkled in response, hands going to her temples.</p><p>“You wish! God, are they cancelling classes?”</p><p>Now, that made Julia really laugh. “Nah nah, they’re gonna force us to run laps out on the track while zombies are gnawing at the fence! Make sure you throw some— Throw some food out for them at lunch!” </p><p>The two doubled over each other in laughter, drawing the attention of a few frightened classmates around them. It was serious. It had to be serious, if they were evacuating the whole area over it. But it just hadn’t sunk in yet for them. What better way to put off that emotional tsunami than humor?</p><p>A crackle over the decades-old school intercom drew their attention. </p><p>
  <em> Please excuse this interruption. As you may have heard, the whole Cisco school district has just been put under an evacuation order. As of right now, our faculty is working with our bus service to provide all students transport to the established evacuation site. We are still learning about this situation at the moment, so we ask our students and staff to stay calm, and wait until further instruction. We also would like to ask students with their own vehicles to wait for the busses, as authorities have requested we make an effort to reduce traffic moving out of the city. As of now, please remain in your classrooms if possible. Thank you for your cooperation.  </em>
</p><p>“You heard the announcement,” said the teacher, visibly upset. “Please wait here, take a seat, and keep the noise level down.”</p><p>Sydney pulled over a chair from the nearest desk, sitting down next to Julia. Julia snickered a bit, turning to her friend.</p><p>“Hey, they didn’t say classes were canceled! You think we’re gonna have to calculate derivatives while on the run? Maybe—” she stopped, seeing the look on Sydney’s face. The humor had worn off, and she was just pale. Her hands fidgeted in her lap and her eyes flitted around the room. Gently, Julia put a hand onto one of Sydney’s. “Hey,” she said, lowering her voice in an attempt to soothe her friend. “It’s gonna be okay. This is probably a lot of precaution for something pretty small.” </p><p>Sydney shook her head. “Sorry, I’m just— I was just thinking about how many people at that lab might be hurt.” </p><p>Julia found she didn’t have anything reassuring to say about that. Suddenly, her fascination with disasters had come to confront her in real life, and despite all of her books, she had no clue what to do right now except hold her friend’s hand and wait for the next announcement. The classroom was quiet, filled to the brim with murmurs of doom and gloom. For the next few minutes, Julia didn’t add to the buzz at all. </p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Far away, in Seattle, Washington, a man was happily at work. Deep within the workings of his motorcycle, the last thing he wanted to deal with at that moment was a phone call. Yet, despite his wishes, his cell phone was ringing away in the corner of the garage. Disturbing the peace. The man let out a long sigh. Getting to his feet, he wiped the oil from his hands on a rag hanging over his shoulder (and a little on his jeans too). Finally, on about the fourth ring, he picked up his Nokia to his ear.</p><p>“Hello?” </p><p>On the other end, a panicked voice began talking away.<em> “John? John, My God, turn on the news, if you haven’t. It’s— It’s awful, I never thought something like this would—” </em></p><p>It took a moment for John Freeman to recognize the voice of his mother through the phone’s distortion. As soon as he realized that, he interrupted her. </p><p>“Mom, mom calm down. What’s happened, what’s wrong?”</p><p>
  <em> “John, turn on the news.”  </em>
</p><p>He was already walking to the garage door, throwing the rag from his shoulder onto a work table. Once in the house, he turned quickly from the hallway into the living room. There, his wife sat on the floor, smiling and handing toy blocks to his young daughter, who was determined to put every toy into her mouth. The scene clashed harshly with the fear now settling into his stomach. </p><p>“I’m on it mom. Hey, Lauren? Can you turn on the news? Something’s happened.” As his wife got up, he directed his voice back into the phone. “Mom, can’t you just tell me what this is about?”</p><p>“I think you have to see it for yourself. The local station is still talking about it.”</p><p>Unsure of what to expect, John watched as Lauren picked up the remote, changing the channel from some random kids program to the local news channel. Sure enough, he recognized instantly what the emergency had to be. </p><p>
  <em> “--Unknown type at the Black Mesa Research facility has caused the evacuation of the entire nearby town of Cisco, New Mexico. Authorities refuse to answer questions about the nature of the emergency, only that it is ‘urgent’ that all civilians leave the area. Military intervention seems to be required. We’ll bring you updates as this situation develops. In local news…” </em>
</p><p>Lauren was looking at him now, a hand over her mouth. They both watched until the distant images of Black Mesa left the screen, replaced by some small, insignificant local debacle. </p><p>“Mom, message Gordon,” John said, voice barely above a whisper, into the phone.</p><p>
  <em> “I tried, John. It won’t go through. Why won’t they tell us what happened? Do you have any idea what’s going on down there? Is he alright?” </em>
</p><p>He took in a deep breath. His brother. His mind raced with what could go wrong at that lab of his. It had to be bad, to evacuate all of town. It had to be <em> real bad </em>. </p><p>“I have to go down there,” he said. </p><p>Lauren’s curly black hair nearly came loose from its bun at the speed she shook her head. “John, <em> no. </em>”</p><p>“I need to make sure he’s okay! He doesn’t— he can’t just call us on a random phone, Lauren, I— I have to make sure he made it out of… Whatever has gotten the whole place evacuated!” John was already shrugging on his jacket, taking his keys and wallet. “Mom, call me if you hear from him at all. I’m riding down to that damn lab.” </p><p>Lauren was holding their daughter now, following him as he hung up and gathered a few snacks into a backpack. “John, that drive is <em> days, </em> we should wait here until we hear more!” </p><p>“Well, if we hear from Gordon before I come back, and he’s okay, I’ll just turn around. It’s fine, Lauren…” He took her hand in his. “I… You know how it is. He’s my big brother, if anything happened to him, I’d… I just don’t like the look of this, Lauren, and they mentioned the <em> military </em>getting involved, and I—” </p><p>His wife cut him off with a kiss.</p><p>When they pulled apart, she looked him in the eyes, dead serious. “Call me, John. Hopefully this is all nothing.”</p><p>When the garage door opened, Lauren was standing there, waving him goodbye. He waved, trying to smile through his helmet. He promised he’d be back soon.</p><p>Then, John Freeman was off, taking the quickest route possible onto Interstate 5. </p><p>He had a bad feeling about all of this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A special thanks to Black Mesa, which I transcribed most of the emergency broadcast from.<br/>This is going to be a fairly long work! I will try to upload regularly, but I am a busy person, so we'll see. I will finish it, though.</p><p>To be clear! The author of this fic is me, TheNeonFennec. Kendallmorrow9 helps me work through my ideas and proofreads, so I thought she deserved proper credit at the top. Thank you!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Distractions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things are not getting better, but at least everyone is on the move.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A stream of cars and busses filled the road leading out of Cisco, New Mexico. Despite the best efforts of authorities, traffic still lagged slightly. As the sun beat down on the busses housing students of Cisco High School, complaints filled the air, and already anxious teenagers got rowdier. </p><p>Sitting in the window seat, towards the front of one of said busses, was Julia Santos. Head bent downward, foot on the edge of her seat, she tied and untied her shoelaces. Over, and over, and over again. Each time, she attempted a new knot. Her fingers were steady as ever, but her dark hair kept falling down in front of her glasses.</p><p>“What time is it?” asked Sydney, sitting in the seat beside her. Broken from her focus, Julia took a quick glance at her watch.</p><p>“Uh. Getting close to 12:30. Ugh. We should be coming into town soon... Why?” she took the moment to pull some of her hair back into a small ponytail. Her friend sighed, blowing her own blonde locks away from her face as she did so. </p><p>“I think we’ve missed lunch. This keeps getting worse.”</p><p>Julia snorted a bit louder than she would have liked. “Yeah. Lunch. Well, I’ve got my bag, and I’m cool to share it. You can have the brownie.”</p><p>The change in her friend’s demeanor was instant. She sat up, clapping her hands together in front of her with a toothy grin. “Aw yes,” Sydney laughed, “yes please!”</p><p>Leaving her laces each tied with a bowline knot, Julia set down her foot and started to rummage through her stuffed backpack. She pushed aside her flashlight, several overdue books about survivalism, and a disorganized crumple of homework before finally pulling out her lunchbox. Unzipping it, she handed Sydney the store-bought brownies and opened a bag of chips for herself. Sydney thanked her, just barely, before taking a huge bite.</p><p>The two ate for a minute in what would have been silence if they weren’t in a bus full of angry high school students. Julia leaned against the bus window, unsure if opening it would really grant them any relief from the heat. Outside, she could just barely see the edge of the town they were heading into, peeking out from behind a dusty hillside. Hopefully, somewhere there, she could meet back up with her parents.</p><p>Thankfully, something stopped Julia’s mind from wandering onto the utterly pointless and anxious subject of when she’d meet up with her parents. Instead, her attention was drawn  by something strange. Something seemed to move across the sky outside, something like… Lightning? A shockwave? She peered out the window, brows furrowed from the bright light, but didn’t notice anything like it again. Instead, she spotted a dark green helicopter flying overhead, looking nearly black against the bright sky. It was headed in the opposite direction that they were going.</p><p>“That’s military,” Sydney mumbled to her, mouth full of baked goods.</p><p>Julia closed her bag of trail mix. “Yeah. I guess they’re going to help with whatever happened at that lab.” A pause. Julia tapped a finger on her watch in thought. “Hey, what the heck does that place even do? Like, I’ve heard of it before, it’s close to town and all, but like… What <em> is </em>it?”</p><p>Sydney shrugged, finally done with her much-needed snack. “Dunno. Sometimes, people that work there come into the diner on weekends. I don’t really talk to people much while I’m bussing tables but it's mostly like, old guys. They don’t really advertise themselves. It’s probably rocket science or something.” Her expression darkened. “Except for… well, there’s one guy. I think he’s a security guy, really nice. Likes our food so much he comes by every weekend, and he always tries to make me laugh on shift. I… I hope he’s okay.”</p><p>Noticing her friend’s nervousness had returned, Julia intervened. “Hey, I’m sure he’s fine. They’ve got the freakin military coming in.”</p><p>“I guess… I just can’t think about it right now,” Sydney sighed. “Tell me a story. Tell me how you chipped your tooth.”</p><p>At that, Julia grinned devilishly, showing off said chipped front tooth. “Well,” she drawled, readying herself to make up something absurd, “It happened about five years ago, when I was knee deep in a swamp in Florida…”</p><p>She continued practicing knots with her shoelaces, spinning her tale at the same time, and occasionally checking the window. More Helicopters flew overhead.</p><hr/><p>“—Best burgers in town, I swear. Definitely better than anything in the food courts here. I just think we should be allowed—”</p><p>“Tim?”</p><p>The security guard looked up from what he was doing to make eye contact with Doctor Thorn. The two squatted in the closet together, a flashlight illuminating the radio he had been trying to work with. To him, Cynthia looked angry, disheveled, and impatient. To Cynthia, Tim Jonasson seemed talkative, skittish, and somewhat annoying. They were both correct. The two would not be getting coffees anytime soon. But, Cynthia knew the facility like the back of her hand, and Tim, being a security guard, had a gun. This made them a very good temporary team. </p><p>Tim chuckled nervously, scratching his neck. “Uh, sorry doc. I’m just calmer when I’m talking about random stuff. I know we… no one’s probably goin’ out for lunch today.” </p><p>She sighed, leaning against the grimy wall. “It’s fine. Just… please get that radio working. We need to know what’s happening out there.”</p><p>“Well, good news is, the thing’s got some power. That puts it above my walkie talkie. But I’m not picking up our channel at all,” mumbled Tim.</p><p>She stood up, stretching her legs. “Then no one’s talking. Or they’re out of range. We’ll just have to continue blind.”</p><p>He shook his head. “This was a waste of time.”</p><p>“Maybe,” she said, though her tone said, “Definitely.”</p><p>Together, the two exited the closet and into the hallway. Here, the destruction seemed almost minimal, but in the past few hours, they had been assured that no corner is safe.</p><p>Tim moved ahead, gun drawn. Cynthia held back, watching the shadows. They passed a few doors, darkened, probably locked. It didn’t matter. She knew exactly where they were headed.</p><p>Things were going smoothly until something met them at a turn in the corridor. Red eyes stood out in the dim light, and the two hapless humans were face to face with a creature they had only seen so far from a distance. </p><p>“Doc, duck and cover!” Tim shouted, just as the gaunt, three armed figures reared back. The two rolled to the side, hiding behind a storage crate left against the wall. Just inches away, green bolts of lightning shot past, fizzling out towards the end of the hall. While Cynthia was somewhat winded by the tumble, Tim sprang right back up. Positioning himself at the corner of the crate, he peeked around, firing off a few shots into the creature. The gunfire hurt both of their ears. Just before they could be blasted again, Cynthia heard the stumbling thud of the creature falling to the ground. Dead.</p><p>Cautiously, the two of them crept out from behind their cover. The thing lay in a pool of it’s own sickly yellow blood. A gruesome sight. But, the doctor couldn’t help but linger a moment, taking note of it’s physiology. The arrangement of eyes and arms marked it as being from anywhere but earth. It seemed to also have some sort of green metallic restraint applied to it’s limbs and torso.</p><p>“This is the fourth unidentified creature we’ve come across,” she said under her breath.</p><p>Tim, already a few paces ahead down the hall, looked about nervously. “Uh, yeah, sure. We’ve seen these before, doc.”</p><p>“But never so <em> close. </em> That… That resonance cascade. It opened up something.” <em> Where </em> it was these creatures were coming from, she had absolutely no clue. Doctor Thorn <em> hated </em>not having a clue. Pulled from her thoughts, Tim offered her a hand to aid in stepping over the downed creature. She accepted, and they were on their way.</p><p>Down more hallways. Up a ladder, don’t even think about trying the elevator, and continue on. They still came across the smaller, crab-like creatures and their corpse puppets every once in a while, but for the most part… The two were feeling safer.</p><p>“We’re almost to the parking garage,” Cynthia announced as they entered a large warehouse space together. “It’s though here, out those cargo doors.” She stepped out, almost so relieved to see their approaching freedom that she nearly missed the fact that they weren’t alone. Not in the slightest. Across the place, out from behind one of the stacks of crates came three men, all clad in green and armed to the teeth. </p><p>“Oh my God,” she breathed, “the military’s here!” And just then, before she could relax more than a tad, before she could get too carried away with thoughts of rescue and a helicopter ride to safety…</p><p>They raised their guns. </p><p>For the second time in an hour, Cynthia was crashing to the ground for cover, this time being shoved quite forcefully by Tim. As she lay on the cold concrete, cradling the bruised leg that had flared up in pain the moment she hit the ground, he drew his own weapon. The two parties were exchanging fire, bullets whizzing by. Cynthia’s mind was whirling with confusion. Why on Earth were they being shot at?</p><p>“Doc, we have to go, now!” Tim shouted. The young man was fumbling to reload. Breathing hard.</p><p>“This has— This <em> must </em>be a misunderstanding!” She protested. But Tim just shook his head. Gun loaded, he turned around to resume the fight. She was about to say something back, to say something about their innocence, when her companion fell at her feet. </p><p>And she expected him to get up at first. What had happened? Why didn’t he answer when she called his name in confusion? </p><p>It wasn’t until his blood started to spread across the ground that it hit her. And she looked up and saw who did it.</p><p>A man. Probably the same age as Tim. He had worked his way around the side of the building to get an angle on Tim. His eyes were trained on her now, cold, grey, angry. He was reloading his gun. </p><p>As he approached, fear took hold of Cynthia, fiercer than ever. She backed up, scooting across the hard ground until she hit the wall, shaking her head. </p><p>“You’re making a mistake,” her voice trembled. “I’m a scientist, I’ve done <em> nothing </em> wrong! I’m— I just want to get out of here, you can’t— I’m just a <em> scientist </em>God damn it!”</p><p>He was done reloading. </p><p>This is it, she thought. All of this, everything she had made it through so far… Just to be killed by her own kind, rather than the aliens she was trying to escape from. </p><p>But then, gunfire rang out through the warehouse once again, at the other side. Though she couldn’t see what was happening, the frantic firing and sounds of bodies falling didn’t bode well. </p><p>“What the— Shit!” The soldier, somehow suddenly in a panic himself, gave Cynthia one last scathing look before dashing to the nearest exit, bullets flying by.</p><p>For a minute after that, Cynthia was too afraid to move. What had just happened? Was she safe? Was she alone? Heavy sounding footsteps approached, instantly answering that question. She prepared for the worst. Held her breath. Shrinking back against the wall, she hid in the corner. </p><p>Finally, he came into view. Not a soldier, not an alien, but a young man, bespectacled, wearing an orange HEV suit. She was staring into the face of a fellow scientist. And, oh so awkwardly, he tried to smile and offer a hand despite looking half dead.</p><hr/><p>He remembered his brother’s face more than anything else from that morning. Nine years ago, on a very exciting day.</p><p>Gordon can’t force a smile. Years of family photos proved that to John and their mom. He just can’t. He bares his teeth into something like a grimace, always making the photo turn out like someone had forced him to be in it at gunpoint. But, on that fateful morning, Gordon was smiling. Really beaming. John looked up from his cereal, blinking sleep out of his eyes as he stared up at his older brother. Gordon was holding some paper. Couldn’t this wait?</p><p>“What is it? What are you so happy about?” John asked, a bit too harshly. Who could blame him, though. High schoolers aren’t known for their social expertise. Gordon didn’t seem to care, however, and slid the paper across the table. John pulled it over to read, only getting a few lines in before it became clear what the deal was.</p><p>“You got accepted? And… all these scholarships?” he asked, looking back to him for confirmation, almost expecting the letter to be a fake. It wouldn’t be like him to joke around. Sure enough though, Gordon nodded vigorously, and before either of them could say anything, John had launched out of his chair and tackled his brother in a hug. His teenage grumpiness had disappeared in an instant.</p><p>John laughed a bit as he pulled away a moment later, looking into Gordon’s stunned face. “I knew you would! I told you!” Then, with a gentle but teasing pat, “Your dork ass is perfect for MIT.”</p><p>Gordon chuckled softly, shaking his head. He said in sign, “I’m glad you’re happy too.”</p><p>Flopping back into his chair at the table, John rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m happy, I’m proud of you, dude, you deserve this! I mean, you’re crazy smart.”</p><p>Gordon sat down too, trying to ignore the compliment by helping himself to the box of cereal on the table, taking a handful to munch on dry. </p><p>Through his own breakfast, John said, “Mom’s gonna lose it when she comes back from work.”</p><p>The two ate. For a bit, their conversation seemed over, each of them sitting happily in their pride and excitement. But, just as John was getting up to put his bowl away, Gordon asked one more question.</p><p>“Will you be okay?”</p><p>John almost missed it, turning towards the sink, but he stopped. “Huh?”</p><p>“It will be just you and mom while I’m gone. Will you be okay?”</p><p>John was quiet for a moment, unsure how to interpret the concern so plainly seen in Gordon’s eyes. He then laughed it off.</p><p>“Yeah, we’ll be fine, Gordon. You gotta go chase your destiny off at genius school, do crazy science stuff, or, whatever.”</p><p>He went to clean his bowl, but as he was working soap into a sponge with his hands, his brain was turning Gordon’s words over and over.</p><p>Okay? Will he be okay? Sure he will. He’d finish high school, and get a job someplace… normal. Simple. There was no chance in hell he’d follow in his footsteps, getting into some exclusive college. And that’s fine. He’d be fine.</p><p>He got this weird feeling in his stomach. That twinge of fear that comes with an irrational yet chilling thought that confronts you out of nowhere. He worried for his safety. As a kid, Gordon had been picked on more than once. Called weird. His difficulty with communicating made everything so much more difficult for him. And, over time, John had always stood up for him. He’d always been there for his older brother.</p><p>And now, Gordon was going somewhere else. To be important, and smart, and to fend for himself.</p><p>We aren’t kids anymore, John told himself as he put away his now clean silverware. It’ll be fine. </p><p>They’d be fine.</p><p>
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</p><p>He had that same twinge of fear in his stomach as he sped down the freeway on his motorcycle. He’ll be fine, John told himself.</p><p>He’ll be fine.</p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is late. Sorry about that, my college workload makes it a bit hard to keep a regular schedule. If you want to contact me and see some art (including art of these characters) come find me at theneonfennec.tumblr.com<br/>Thanks to kendallmorrow9 for assisting me with ideas and proofreading!</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. wepons</h2></a>
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    <p>John Freeman who is Gordon Freemans brother was going fast on his bike to see his brother when he was stops on the road by enemys! "what is this" he said with anger. John Freeman did not have tim to sotp for this! John Freeman took out his favrite wepon and shot the enemes over and ober until they were dead. "Good. npow i can get to black messa and save my brother!" he said and then got on his bike and drove faster to the place.</p><p>whene John Freeman got there he saw the destructon. the sky was full of thijngs but not birds these were evil. "I have to find my brother!" he said.</p><p>"i can help you" said a voice. John Freeman turned around and saw Julia Santos who had Even bigger wepon exept it was pink be cause she was little girl. </p><p>"thank you we must go!!" yelled John Freeman and they started walkig fast into the placve looking for Gordon Greeman. lots of bodies wer in there way but they did not care. instead they found the fastest way to walk to get to were Gordon Freeman was.</p><p>"Gordon" John Freeman said when he saw him. "I came all the way her from sattle to see you!!!"</p><p>Gordon Freeman was talking to a girl scientist who looked mad. She said "we have to keill the biggest boss firts!!" </p><p>John Freeman agreeded so they all went to the alieens world and shot the big boss with gun. and it died.</p><p>"We did it!" yelled Jons Freeman Happidly. "Or did we???"</p><p> </p><p>to be continued...?</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Happy April Fools!</p>
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